Paintball marking guns are used in a variety of targeting and simulated battle games (e.g., capture the flag). These guns launch a ball of paint with a frangible shell that is designed to hold the ball shape until striking an object after firing. Upon striking the object, the ball is set to break open leaving a paint spot.
Paintball guns typically employ a firing system powered by compressed gas such as air. Compressed air is supplied from a canister which is mounted to or carried with the gun. The gun systems also include a gun body, a paintball hopper and one or more pressure regulators which receive gas from the tank at a relatively high pressure and deliver gas at a reduced, more consistent pressure to the gun body for propelling the paintball.
The pressure regulators are modular and typically include at least two major components interconnected with threaded portions. One well-accepted type of gun system design calls for a pressure regulator to be threaded directly into the supply canister.
It is preferred, safe practice to fully discharge gas canisters before disassembling any part of the gun system. Paintball players are known to remove the regulator-canister portion of the system from the gun body without discharging the gas canister, however. Players may wish to make adjustments at remote locations or avoid the cost of a gas recharge.
Although modular paintball regulator designs are preferred for performance and maintenance, it is a concern that paintball regulator parts may be inadvertently separated when a paintball player attempts to remove a canister. If such parts are disassembled before the canister is discharged, the ultimate separation can be violent and therefore unsafe.
One approach to addressing this safety concern is the placement of special alignment markings on threaded fittings. A change in the alignment of the markings serves as a warning to the paintball player that the wrong parts are separating. Although well accepted, this approach relies on the paintball player to monitor the markings while removing the paintball regulator or canister from the gun body.
There would be several advantages to a paintball regulator system that prevents violent separation of components when inadvertently disassembled.